Did the future King Edward VII shoot a protected owl and then lie about it to
cover his tracks? Edward, Queen Victoria’s eldest son and the then Prince of
Wales, certainly did not want anyone to think he had. But recently
discovered photographs appear to provide persuasive evidence that the future
king was guilty on both counts.

The long eared owl had been a protected species since the first Wild Birds
Protection Act was passed in 1880. In September 1896, five years before he
succeeded his mother, the Prince of Wales was photographed at a shoot at
Wynyard Park in